One of the hardest parts of the college application process is writing the essay. THE essay of your life. The essay that, in merely 500 words, describes you, your personality, and your life. I can’t even begin to tell you how many drafts of my essay I have. All of which are completely different, might I add. Because I’m going to college this coming fall (have I mentioned I’m going to college this coming fall??), I decided that I would share my college essay. Not because I think it’s amazingly well written and creatively processed, but because I think it would have been nice to see other people’s essays before I wrote mine. I was so desperately in need of seeing what an actual college application essay looked like, but to no avail. So if you’re a rising senior in high school and currently creating drafts upon drafts of essays, I’m your heavenly angel from above sending you an ounce of love by showing you mine.

But no judgements allowed, thank you. Unless it's a good kind of judgement.

My high school career has been one for the books; some might view it as a failure, but I choose to view it as taking the unconventional path. Five years, three high schools, two cities. Maybe unconventional is an understatement. I had never imagined my life to be so… different, but sometimes different is a good thing. Being different has allowed me to see the world from a new perspective. It has allowed me to better understand new situations in my life and around the world. I have become more open minded due to my “failure” to have a “normal” high school career.

Before my high school years became so weird, for lack of better word, I was stubborn. I thought that the world revolved around me, and I didn't think that anything could bring me down. I was fearless, and stupidly naive. Then I became ill with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). And the world changed. It didn’t change for the worse, but it changed, and it became this completely new place… I started to see people differently; I became more understanding, patient, and open minded. I was also to discover my love for graphic design and photography. So maybe I “failed” to stay healthy, but in my mind I won.

But what even is failing? Sure, I can look in the dictionary and find that it means “a weakness or a shortcoming,” but what does it really mean? It might mean that you can’t do something that everyone else can do, but the word fails (pun intended) to mention what you can do. For example, one might fail to follow a juice cleanse, but maybe this same girl discovered her love for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in the process. The word failure, to me, is a huge fail within itself.

No, my high school education isn’t “normal.” Yes, I am “different.” But I feel like this difference makes me, well, me. This so called failure has opened my eyes to a different world. A world where every person has a story that should be heard, a world where positivity is important, a world where I can be myself without worrying about what other people think. Becoming ill created, what felt like, an insurmountable road block and caused me to take a detour to a different path, but this path has Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and graphic design. So tell me, who failed?

So maybe I’m crazy for sharing my college essay with the world, but what the heck. If your essay is available for reading, please let me know because I’d love to read it!